CALIPSO Tropospheric Aerosol Profiles Under Opaque Cloud Conditions

Monthly mean profiles from 2006 to July 2020 provide vertical distributions of aerosol extinction coefficients and aerosol optical depth below 12km altitude. The data is derived from the CALIOP lidar instrument on the CALIPSO satellite, a joint NASA and CNES mission. This specific product averages only atmospheric columns containing opaque clouds.

Use Cases

• Analyze the vertical profile of aerosol extinction coefficient at 532 nm under opaque cloud conditions to study aerosol transport.
• Calculate the aerosol optical depth (AOD) from integrated extinction profiles to assess atmospheric opacity and radiative forcing.
• Compare aerosol type and spatial distribution data, including mineral-dust-only profiles, to model aerosol sources and sinks.
• Investigate aerosol properties in cloudy-sky, opaque conditions versus other sky classifications (all-sky, cloud-free, transparent-cloud).

Strengths

• Data spans over 14 years of continuous satellite observation from 2006 to July 2020.
• Profiles are quality-screened and derived from the version 4.20 CALIOP level 2 aerosol product.
• Provides specific analysis for opaque cloud conditions, one of four defined sky classifications.

Limitations

• Data generation for this V4.20 product ended on July 1, 2020, creating a temporal gap before the V4.21 series.
• Profiles are limited to the troposphere, with no data reported above 12km altitude.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and spatial resolution details are not provided.

Provenance

Source

NASA's CALIPSO satellite mission, a joint project with the French space agency CNES.

Collection Method

Derived from level 2 aerosol profile data collected by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument.

Time Range

2006 to July 1, 2020.

Freshness

Product version finalized; data collection ended July 2020. Superseded by V4.21 series.

Geography

Global coverage from the CALIPSO satellite in the A-Train constellation.